youtube posts

What happens when the vlogging, tweeting and instagramming stops for modern day digital creators? That's the question AOL is striving to answer through its newest original series, "Follow Me."

Launched today, the 10-episode series documents the lives of modern day digital creators who are redefining the definition of celebrity. Each installment features a different star, allowing unprecedented access into their lives.

In the first episode of this eye-opening digital series, viewers will get an intimate look at the busy life of Brittani Louise Taylor- a self described "digital ninja," actress and filmmaker with more than 1.1 million subscribers and over 200 million video views - as she preps for production on her YouTube videos as well as all of the behind the scenes work that goes into maintaining her brand.

Also premiering today, JC Caylen and Ricky Dillon of "Our 2nd Life" (O2L) take us behind the scenes of O2L, one of the most popular millennial brands today with more than 8 million YouTube subscribers and over 280 million views collectively. At AOL's 2014 Newfront, one tweet by JC Caylen garnered 325,000 likes and 2,000 retweets, higher than all other A-list talent.

Watch the latest episodes here, and join the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #AOLFollowMe.

With the overflow of viral videos and branded digital stunts, it is becoming more and more difficult for anyone to make a splash in the social market. The goviral team have released the top 100 brands in branded content for 2012, highlighting the companies and brands that are leading the way with their social content.

The first goviral Social Video Equity Report evaluated these brands based on their volume, total views and engagement for content uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. Goviral then weighed the quality, purpose, innovation and audience relevance, before calculating the final social video equity score. From the report:

"The results of goviral's Social Video Equity Report prove that when it comes to branded content, fortune favors the brave", said Mads Holmen, Planning Director, goviral. "Brands like Red Bull, Old Spice and Nike are risk-takers, constantly disrupting what's expected to spark agenda-setting conversation. An effective social video strategy can elevate a brand beyond the product, creating an experience consumers really want to part of."

Click here for additional details on goviral's research and findings. For the full list of the top 100 brands in branded content, visit goviral.com

A goviral video designed to tease an upcoming marketing campaign for a new Volvo truck is doing exactly what it's supposed to do -- going viral. The video, which premiered globally yesterday, has spread organically to over 200 countries on 30,000 websites -- including clocking up more than 400,000 views on YouTube. Even our friends at HuffPost UK are talking about it.

"VOLVO Trucks - The Ballerina Stunt" is a knuckle biter featuring world record-holding highliner Faith Dickey battling the wind to cross a line between two speeding trucks heading for a tunnel.

The stunt was set up to show the precise handling of the new Volvo FH. Filmed on an unopened highway in Croatia in cooperation with Hollywood stunt director Peter Pedrero (think James Bond, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean) and was directed by Academy Award nominee Henry Alex Rubin. The project is the work of goviral's Nordic team, headed by Jacob Lachmann. goviral is exclusive video partner for the Volvo campaign.

Watch the video below:

Learn how goviral works with nearly 40,000 publishers globally and can target over 90 countries, across 24 verticals by clicking here.

Small publishers from all over the country recently got together for the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Long Tail Alliance Fly-In in Washington, and I had the opportunity to attend and speak to the group about the Advertising.com network and trends we see in the marketplace. The goal for the two-day meeting, now in its fourth year, is to give these small digital businesses a chance to share knowledge, hear from interactive advertising leaders and be heard by Congress.

During my presentation, I focused on premium formats, mobile and video and shared the risks of user-generated content not only to advertisers, but to website brands as well. The group also heard from Rick Jaworski from JoyofBaking.com, who gave a great presentation on how he uses video to grow his online audience through YouTube. JoyofBaking now attracts more video views on YouTube than Martha Stewart, Epicurious and the Food Network combined! His success story likely inspired many publishers at the event to rethink their video strategies.

Jeff Tennery from mobile advertising company Millennial Media also gave an interesting presentation on rich media buys on mobile devices. Other presentations addressed life as a publisher and touched on legal rules as well as how the political landscape can affect their small businesses.

On day two, we headed to Capitol Hill where IAB shared its view with lawmakers that Do Not Track legislation proposed in Congress last year would not only hurt large Internet companies but would threaten the livelihood of online entrepreneurs. The Fly-In group split into small groups to visit their congressmen to share concerns about the proposed legislation. They told their representatives about their sites and businesses and pointed out how online ad targeting has increased ad effectiveness and their earnings over the past few years.

The group reminded the congressmen that before online targeting, consumers were faced with more ads and pop-ups, and poorer quality advertisers.

To learn more about our offerings for Adverisers and Publishers, visit Advertising.com.

The PawNation Pet Rally was a purrrrr-fect success, taking place in New York City's Tompkins Square Park this past Saturday, April 14. Featurinh more than 400 dogs -- and cats, the event was sponsored by AOL and BermanBraun to celebrate the official relaunch of PawNation. The New York Post took notice of the event and PawNation which was recently named the Web's #1 Pet Content site* and the #2 Community Pet site,** also posted a recap.

PawNation columnist and YouTube star Randall, known for his narration of the viral "Honey Badger" video, emceed the Pet Rally and surprised and delighted the crowd all day with his infamous narration skills. Randall led participants in both a pet/owner lookalike contest as well as a pet pageant with competitive rounds testing pets' talent, runway walk, costume and kissability.

When not mingling with Randall or fawning over the puppies at the adoption truck, dog owners and their pets posed for glamour shots in front of a PawNation step and repeat, received paw-dicurs from Salty Dog Groomers and cuddled with Champ, Bayer's adorable puppy mascot. The North Shore Animal Adoption Truck was also on hand and found new homes for six lucky pets. Lunch for pet owners was provided by the Gorilla Cheese Truck and Eddie's Pizza Truck, and treats for pups came from Bocce's Bakery Bike.

Look for the first video of Randall recapping the event on Wednesday on PawNation.com.